For one Europe Moving slowly, swamped by bureaucracy and far behind its main competitors, especially the US and China, former ECB president and former Italian prime minister spoke. Mario Draghispeaking today (16.9.2025) in Brussels at a high -level conference on EU competitiveness, on the occasion of the one year after the publication of its report.
“Without faster growth, Europe will not be able to achieve its climate, digital technology and security goals, so as not to refer to the funding of its aging population,” Mario Draghi warned. According to him, “a year later, Europe is in a more difficult position.”
He explained that “our development model is weakening, vulnerabilities are growing and there is no clear course for funding the investment we need.” According to Draghi, The trade confrontation with the United States and the debt of European countries “reminded us harshly that inaction threatens not only our competitiveness but also our sovereignty».
The former President of the ECB stressed that it is necessary to “act together and we need more speed”, while underlining the need for “a different course that requires new speed, scale and intensity”. This, he explained, means that “we must act together, not fragment our efforts” and means “to produce results in months, not years”.
Called by the European Commission (Commission) to provide an initial evaluation, twelve months after the publication of his report on the future of European competitiveness, Draghi reminded that he had presented recommendations to Three areas of priority: in bridging the gap in innovation and advanced technologies, in the engraving of a course of carbon exemption and In boosting financial security.
He emphasized that these recommendations are at the center of the Commission’s agenda and welcomed the actions already taken. However, he expressed his regret that “Governments do not know the seriousness of the situation“, Pointing out that European citizens and businesses appreciate the diagnosis, clear priorities and action plans, but also express increasing frustration with the slow rhythms of the EU and its inability to move as quickly as the US and China.
“Very often excuses are promoted to our slowness,” the former ECB’s former president continued, noting that “sometimes inaction is even presented as respect for the rule of law” – which he described as “complacency”. He explained that “competitors in the US and China are much less limited, even when they act by law.”
Therefore, he stressed that “continuing as usual means to accept that we are left behind”, but “there is no other time to lose” and the real question that needs an answer is “how to increase the speed of European action for competitiveness, economic security and independence.”
According to Draghi, the areas that require urgent action are: first, The removal of obstacles to the spread of new technologies. As he said, a “28th regime” for the establishment of a new legal entity must become a reality. This will allow innovative companies to operate, market and derive funding without obstacles to all 27 Member States, just as competitors can do in other major economies.
THE Second sector is the arrangement. One of the main demands of European companies, according to Draghi, is the radical simplification of the General Data Protection Regulation. As he explained, artificial intelligence models require huge quantities of public data available online. However, the legal uncertainty about their use creates expensive delays, slowing down their growth in Europe. The third sector is “the vertical integration of artificial intelligence into industry”.
In this area, Europe has a real advantage, according to M. Draghi, but only about 10% of construction companies used artificial intelligence last year. Industry and governments need to work together to turn this initial advantage into privately owned European solutions. The Commission’s “Artificial Intelligence” strategy this autumn will be a critical test, “he said.